Little bulbs on Tiger Lilies

I don't see any of the black bulbs on the stem of my lilies this year. They look strong and healthy. Does this mean they might not bloom?

The little black bulbils won't show up until later in the season.

Right. And their presence/non-presence would have nothing to do blooming possibilities.

Thank you for your response.

Some years the bulbils barely show up at all.But I have discovered that if I want to propagate a particular lily,all I have to do is prune off all the spent blossoms as soon as the petals drop. The plant then puts all of it's seed-production energy into the bulbils.By the time they're ready to be harvested they're very large and already putting out roots as they hang there on the parent stem. I had a whopper one year the size of a quarter.

Lolita~
Does the above work well with just Tiger Lilies, or any lily? I am new to trying to propagate lilies in any way besides just letting them naturally multiply and then digging them in Fall/early Spring. But I have had several requests for a couple of my Lilies, and wondered if this might help me get more bulbs, quicker so I could share/trade them sooner??

Thanks for your help,
Jamie

You may get bulbils from some lilies that have the tiger lily in their genes. The faster way to get exactly the same lily, of any type, is to scale a bulb. At least it's faster than waiting for natural division of a slow grower. Check out the propagation here http://lilies.org/propagation.html

Moby~
Thanks! I have seen posts with reference to scaling, and didn't know what it was. I am going to go finish planting my lilies, then go check out the link!

Thanks again!
Jamie

Jamie - I have had some of my Asiatics put out bulbils without producing a flower that season. Usually this the second season from planting of a previous bulbil from older plants. I have also read that you can encourage production of bulbils by cutting off all buds from a single plant. Then the plants puts all its' energy into the production of the bulbils. This would probably be best if you have an abundance of a particular bulbil producing lily. Treating just one plant in this manner will give you an adequate supply of bulbils. Don't hold the bulbils until the following spring, they will dry out. I plant mine right away - either in pots or into an out of the way spot in my garden. I then transplant them to a permanent spot in the spring of the 2nd or 3rd year.

This message was edited May 3, 2009 7:49 PM

This message was edited May 3, 2009 7:50 PM

Zorba~ Thanks so much for the info on bulbils. I know my Triumphator lily tends to make bulbils, so I may try this method on one of the stalks! It would also be a good one to try this out on because so many swap/trade offers are made for this lily!! I will have to really get to know which of my lilies tend to make the bulbils so I don't sacrifice a bunch of blooms only to do it on a lily that doesn't produce them no matter what!

Moby~ Thanks for the link, it was great! I read several of the pages on that website when first told about NALS, but didn't get to that one. I can't wait to try all these things!! So many ways to get more lilies, and I can't wait to try them all! :)

Jamie